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Elvis Costello ... made of plastic?!

How do you know when you've reached the pinnacle of fame as an entertainer? If you're Elvis Costello, you're part of the next line-up of celebrities to be molded out of plastic.

The National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) and Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products have just announced the next wave of famous faces to be features as part of "The Simpsons" "25 of the Greatest Guest Stars" program. The fourth installment of these limited-edition collectibles will feature Costello, Buzz Aldrin, Tom Jones, Weird Al and Aerosmith.
The "25 of the Greatest Guest Stars" program launched in early 2014, with product roll-outs continuing every two three months, featuring different groupings of guest stars, with limited quantities available at select retailers worldwide.

Costello, who has had an otherwise quiet 2014, recently joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic for two shows at the Hollywood Bowl. It was an arrangement he was all too familiar with, having previously played shows with orchestras in San Francisco, Chicago, Amsterdam and elsewhere over his four-decade career.

"You can create sounds with an orchestra that you can never create with a rock 'n' roll band," Costello told the LA Times. "It started out with small groups, but when I've had the opportunity to work with larger orchestras, I've found that the music can translate. I've learned a lot along the way about the kind of sounds I wanted to hear."

Costello may not be playing with an orchestra at all of his live shows, but his 'dance card' sure is full for the next two months. He's got upcoming dates in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Northern Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland and England.

A History of Elvis Costello tickets

Elvis Costello, who was born Declan Patrick MacManus in 1954 in England, came by music honestly. His father, Ross MacManus, was a jazz trumpeter and bandleader and jingle writer and performer. In fact, Elvis Costello's first foray into performance was in a television commercial in England in 1974 alongside his father, who wrote the jingle for R. White's Lemonade. Shortly after, Elvis Costello started singing his own songs in the London rock pubs and became ensconced in that scene. He first took the name Costello in tribute to his father, who had performed with the name, then combined it with Elvis at the suggestion of his early band manager that he borrow the first name of 'The King, Elvis Presley. Throughout his career, Elvis Costello has demonstrated an impressive versatility as a songwriter. His musicianship showed early on, in his first album, My Aim Is True in 1977, which featured the hit anthem 'Alison' and, later, 'Watching the Detectives,' as well as the single 'Less Than Zero,' which had been a hit already in England. Costello's second album This Year's Model, released in 1978 with his touring group The Attractions, helped propel the Punk and New Wave movements with the hit 'Pump It Up,' which showed his acumen with writing clever lyrics, full of double entendres and hidden references.

A Hit Machine

The hits continued to pile up for Costello throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including 'Accidents Will Happen,' 'Everyday I Write the Book,' 'Veronica' and others. By 1991, Costello had left The Attractions and was working regularly with studio musicians as a soloist. His album Might Like a Rose was a clear break with his past and he began exploring other directions, including combinations of jazz, chamber music, various collaborations and film soundtracks, all the while continuing a feverish pace in the studio, and appearing in numerous films and television shows. If you want to see one of rock and pop's true innovators, who has become a statesman for pop music originality, buy Elvis Costello tickets. Few performers today offer such a broad swath of musical possibilities.

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